The break-in at Credit Lyonnais in Paris Saturday night highlights what insurers and security consultants say is a rise in the level of organization, weaponry and sophistication of heists across Europe.

Last weekend, about 10 masked raiders stormed a busy casino near the Swiss city of Basel, making off with hundreds of thousands of francs, according to early prosecutors estimates. This month a group of robbers wielding machetes and handguns stormed a televised poker tournament in Berlin. Despite the scare, the poker playing resumed within a few hours.